Comprising a view of the present state of the Cape Colony, with observations on the progress and prospects of the British emigrants. Second edition. 2 vols. Folding lithograph map, 2 plans & 23 engraved plates, with engraved vignettes throughout the text. 4to. Contemporary calf, gilt, spines lightly sunned. xxiv, 450; vi, 430pp. London, Henry Colburn, 1827.
Mendelssohn gives a long description of this work which he praises for its unbiased account of the colony. Thompson was a Cape Town merchant and his travels were made “partly from motives of business, partly from the impulse of curiosity”. His description of the regions surrounding the Orange river and the then Bechuanaland “is recognised as the most important… [work] published in the early part of the nineteenth century” (Mendelssohn). Mendelssohn II, p493-4 (first edition); cf. Abbey, 330.
